


when it rains, your soul shines through

by wolfgun



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Kittens, M/M, Slow Burn, everybody loves kittens, i'll add tags as i write the rest, will get gud i promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2018-11-30 07:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11458485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfgun/pseuds/wolfgun
Summary: The sound of the rain beating against the pavement, and the sheer amount of water falling from the sky was something to behold. It made him feel some kind of way. It made him feel... almost alright.“Hey! You’re going to be late, Kogane!”Keith jumped at the shout, turning to find one of his classmates booking it through the torrent, shoes splashing across the sidewalk. Even if he couldn’t see the face, he’d know that voice anywhere—it was none other than Lance, his self-proclaimed rival. Lance suddenly stopped, right in front of Keith’s walkway, a good fifteen paces away, bright blue umbrella twirling.[In which Keith gets soaked, but maybe it's not all that bad.]





	1. on days like these

Keith hated waking up.

 

He hated the slow process of coming to your senses, the grogginess before your mind begins to work, the feeling of having not been able to get enough sleep to be truly satisfied. And these days, he never could.

 

The morning proceeded like always; he makes himself a cup of tea, stares out the small kitchen window, sprinkles water on his plants, takes a shower, throws on clothes—grabs his keys and heads to school. The same thing, just like every other day.

 

Except well, this time—this time, it was raining. Keith opened the door and peered out at the downpour, a series emotions flowing through him in waves. First, frustration, because he didn’t own any umbrellas—he always lost his, one way or another. Resignation quickly followed, and then a sense of peace.

 

The sound of the rain beating against the pavement and the sheer amount of water falling from the sky was something to behold. It made him feel some kind of way. It made him feel... almost alright,

 

“Hey! You’re going to be late, Kogane!”

 

Keith jumped at the shout, turning to find one of his classmates booking it through the torrent, shoes splashing across the sidewalk. Even if he couldn’t see the face, he’d know that voice anywhere—it was none other than Lance, his self-proclaimed rival. Lance suddenly stopped, right in front of Keith’s walkway, a good fifteen paces away, bright blue umbrella twirling. He looked chipper, almost too energetic, for this kind of morning.

 

“What’re you standing there for, huh!? Are you a plank of wood!?”

 

Keith sighed, running a hand through his hair and glancing upwards, at the eaves around his head protecting him. He glanced back at Lance.

 

“No,” he shouted back, raising his voice over the rain, “I don’t have an umbrella.”

 

“Sucks to be you!” Lance returned, and Keith frowned at him as he broke once again into a run. Keith stepped out from under the awning, and immediately regretted his entire existence, the feeling from earlier all but gone.

 

“It sure fucking does.”

 

{--+--}

 

He made it to school on time, but was more water than human. Despite sprinting and nearly knocking into Lance as he burst through the school doors, he still had managed to soak himself to the bone. Holding out at least a little bit of hope for his past self, Keith made a beeline for his locker. Maybe he had stuffed a hoodie in there or something.

 

He shook his head, watching the water droplets scatter and splatter onto the painted metal, and sighed heavily.

 

“What, did you really not have an umbrella?”

 

Keith turned, freezing mid-dial, to find Lance staring at him, eyes as wide as saucers. He gave a slight shiver, as the school's AC hit him.

 

“If I did," Keith retorted, making sure to add an extra layer of sarcasm in there, just for Lance, "do you think I’d be soaked right now?” His muscle memory served him well, and his locker popper open easily. He peered into it, his mood worsening as he cursed out his past self. No hoodie. Nothing except for a crumbled bright green stick note, a broken mechanical pencil, two overdue library books, and a few magnets he stole from one of his teachers. They held nothing, except maybe the paint to the metal for some extra, unneeded reinforcement.

 

“Well, I don’t know,” he replied, frowning,  “you might just be weird. You know, ‘can’t use my umbrella, stars haven’t aligned’ type weird.” Keith grimaced at that, letting his locker door slam shut. “Hey!”

 

He kept walking, the water sloshing up in between his toes, and ruffled his hair. Honestly, the stars definitely had to align or some shit for Lance to even be talking like that to him, without even a mean jab stuck in between his words. Keith just shook his head again, gearing up for class as the bell rang.

 

{--+--}

 

“Kogane,” Coran called, and Keith grit his teeth, jerking his head to see what his teacher wanted. He had to say, he was kind of stupid if he thought Coran wouldn't say anything. “Why in the world are you soaking wet? It sure is raining like a bunch of cat and dogs, but...” A couple people in the class giggled, but Keith didn’t find it funny. 

 

“I didn’t have an umbrella, sir,” he said coolly, and some kids scoffed. Coran nodded, his eyes sparkling.

 

“I see, I see! That’s truly dedication, right there, getting to class even in such a predicament. However, uh…” He pointed to the floor, his mouth pressed in a tight, concerned line. “You’re going to turn the classroom into a pond.”

 

Keith looked down, just now noticing the steadily growing puddle. He took a deep breath.

 

{--+--}

 

He shifted his weight from foot to foot, closing his eyes. Coran had sent him to the nurse’s office as an afterthought, both to see if anything could be done about Keith’s ‘condition’ so as not to get a cold and most like more to get him from 'turning the classroom into a body of water.'

 

The nurse had grown about 5 shades paler when she saw him, running out of the room and bringing back a spare change of clothes along with about 5 towels.

 

And now here he was, the curtains drawn around him, toweling off his wet hair and wondering why in the world the universe hated him. Even worse were the clothes she loaned him—the pants seemed slightly too tight for him, and the shirt was one of those cheesy floral button ups. He felt like some kind of out-of-his-time trendsetter. "Just send me back to the 80's," he muttered, rubbing his hair vigorously.

 

“Yeah, yeah, like I said, Marge,” that annoyingly familiar voice said, and Keith, for the first time today, thanked the gods that Lance couldn’t see him, “I’ll just be in-n-out, super quick, my bud left his phone so—”

 

Keith didn’t think anything of it until his voice cut off abruptly, and curiously, he turned around to see why. And there Lance was, gazing right at him, face slowly coloring the longer they stared at each other. Keith was equally frozen, quickly beginning to feel self-conscious. 

 

“Uh,” he rasped, suddenly very aware that his shirt and pants were unbuttoned, and that a towel was obscuring half his face. Also the fact that his boxers, peeking out, were dotted with rockets and stars. He tried to find reasons not to be embarrassed, but as Lance just continued to gawk, all reason flew from his mind. He had half a mind to be angry that Lance was making it so awkward in the first place.

 

“Uh—m-my bad, I just—uh, I went to grab my buddy—Hunk’s—phone—he was in here earlier, you remember Hunk? Uh—motion sickness amirite—anyway I’m—I’m just gonna—” Lance squeezed past him, diving to the bed, fishing under the pillow to pull out a bright orange phone, and then wobbled away. “S-sorry, again—for, y’know, I’m—uh, gonna go now—”

 

Then just like that, he was gone.

 

Keith was left to wonder what the hell just happened, why he was so damn affected by it, and why he couldn’t get that look Lance had out of his mind.

 

Rainy days really _were_ out to get him.

 

{--+--}

 

Keith walked up to his locker as classes ended and students filled the halls, mussing his hair and just barely stopping himself from ripping it out. He paused in his tracks as he realized his locker door slightly ajar. Just slightly, though—if it wasn’t his, he wouldn’t have known anything was up at all.

 

A bit cautiously, he opened it—someone had obviously picked the secondary keylock, somehow, and wanted him to know it. A note fell, and he frowned at the odd, uneven notebook paper. On it was an even more uneven scrawl, seemingly scribbled in around ten seconds with a red pen.

 

_So,_

_I know the rain kinda fucked up your day and all that, also I’m really sorry for running into you in the nurse’s office. So, here. Also sorry about your locker, my buddy Pidge did that._

__\- L_ _

_P.S. I like space too._

 

Keith made a strangled noise at that last line, clutching at his face and fighting the rising embarrassment. He noticed something else, however, peeking out from between his books—carefully, he picked it out.

 

It was a bright blue umbrella, and experimentally, Keith opened it, the fabric fanning out with a soft but firm sound.

 

“Huh,” Keith muttered, wonderingly, as he spun the umbrella and gazed around the halls, a bit astonished that Lance was this thoughtful.

 

Maybe now, he mused, he wouldn't leave his umbrella in random places. He would remember, all because some kid in his class broke into his locker to give him one. Keith smiled smally to himself, closing the umbrella and tucking it under his arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >> rando dude makes fun of u for not having umbrella  
> >> also sees u half naked, dam  
> >> has friend break into ur locker just to give u thing  
> >> wow.. dude has... COMPASSION!?!?!?!?/11?  
> >> mind==blown
> 
> how romantic, amirite?


	2. i glance at you

The next time it rained was five days later—and Keith, once again, opened the door to find himself staring into a wall of water. This time was different, though; this time, he simply turned to the side and picked up that familiar blue umbrella.

 

He didn’t see Lance on the way to school, much to his relief—the guy had given him the umbrella, but he felt a bit shy about using it. Keith smiled to himself as he hung it in his locker.

 

{--+--}

 

“Ah, Keith,” Coran said as he walked into class, “you aren’t drenched today.” A few students chuckled.

 

“No, sir,” he replied easily, sliding into his seat with a small smile, “I’m not.”

 

{--+--}

 

Later that day, after school let out, Keith headed to the library to work on a group project. He had already done most of his portion, but the other members were hardly even beginning, so he was obligated to help them through it. If he wanted a good grade, that is.

 

It was still raining, pouring one second and trickling down the next, so Keith strolled along leisurely, content to just stick an earbud in and watch people around him rush by. It was kinda funny seeing the people dashing across the streets, using their jackets as a shelter, or just all-out sprinting—because god, he must’ve looked like an idiot all those times doing the same thing.

 

It was nice to be able to enjoy the rain, for once.

 

{--+--}

 

Keith finally stepped out of the library at around 9 pm, pissed beyond belief—he had ended up doing most of the other portions for the project, as well as the presentation. He didn’t even bother to wave goodbye to his team, just popped open his umbrella and stomped away.

 

He pulled out his phone, seething, trying to find a good song to listen to when he heard a soft cry. Frowning, he took his earbuds out, glancing across the street and trying to figure out if he was hallucinating or not.

 

Finally, he shrugged, and continued to walk—but just then, he heard it again. Louder, this time. He whipped in the direction the sound came from, but was only met with silence. The rain continued to pound the pavement, and he was about to give up again when he finally saw what it was.

 

To his left, leaning against a brick building was a small cardboard box. And as soon as he saw those ears poking out of it, he started forward, breaking into a jog. Sure enough, he pulled back the flaps of the box to reveal a pair of kittens, soaked from the rain.

 

“Holy fuck,” Keith gasped, anger at the soul who did this completely evaporating as he picked one of them up; it was shivering and small—it couldn’t have been more than a couple weeks old. It mewled pitifully, and Keith shushed it, running his hand over the forehead and back and flicking off the excess water.

 

It wasn’t difficult to imagine why these kittens had been left out. He hesitated for a fraction of a second, but in the end folded his umbrella and tucked the two kittens into his jacket, both arms supporting them, and ran all the way back to his apartment.

 

{--+--}

 

Thanks to google, he found out that the kittens were probably around 3 weeks old. They were both also girls—although one had a sleek gray coat, while the other had a striped pattern. He spent most of his night cleaning them up and running over to the store to get them some food—and finally, after he folded a couple blankets and put them inside a box—he passed out.

 

{--+--}

 

The next morning, he woke with a start. The kittens were meowing loudly, and although part of him was glad they already had so much energy, he didn’t quite like being woken up without an alarm.

 

Technically, he still had about 30 more minutes to sleep before school; he takes his sleep seriously, damnit, and the difference between 6:30 am and 7 is staggering. A violent shiver wracked through him and he groaned, cursing himself for falling asleep in wet clothes. He grumbled something about being an idiot, for once having an umbrella on him and not using it. 

 

Keith sighed, rubbing his eyes, crawling over to his computer and making one last google check for how he should feed them—and pried open a can of catfood.

 

He found himself staring at the brown slop for a little longer than necessary, tilting his head and making a face at the stench. He had haphazardly shoved the cheapest brand into his arms, so he wondered if maybe it had expired… ? Three checks on the can’s surface told him he was in the green. He brought the kittens the food then, watching them sniff at it and prod at it.

 

“Wh—Hey!” Keith jumped to stop the striped kitten; it had begun to wolf down the food when he had been checking his phone. “You’re going to choke, idiot!” He dragged the kitten away from the plate, mildly surprised by the resistance it put up—it stiffened its body and let out a low growl, one which Keith rolled his eyes at.

 

He broke up the food with his finger (making a face) and then placed the kitten back in front of the goop, satisfied that it was forced to eat slower this time.

 

Meanwhile, the gray cat was just licking the food, not really biting down; Keith frowned at that, wondering how he could fix it. But just then, the cat looked over to the striped one, gazing for a short time, and then it took a nibble. Keith sighed in relief.

 

After they were finished, he rolled them back up into the box and took a shower; wondering where he could keep the kittens while he was away at school.

 

Eventually, he decided on the bathroom; it wasn’t too small, and he could clean up any mess relatively easily.

 

He felt bad about locking them in there, but… well, it’s the best he could do with such a sudden adoption. Keith stepped outside, adjusting his backpack, and closed the door with a soft click.

 

{--+--}

 

It wasn’t until later that day that it really hit him.

 

He’s not unused to powering through days and going to school even on the stomach flu (which was a bad idea, don’t do that) but he felt absolutely wrecked during chemistry. The teacher was as equally thrilled as his lab partner, Shay, when he requested to go to the nurse’s.

 

“I’m allowing this because you’re one of my best students, Kogane,” Mrs. Merryweather said to him, ripping out a pass pointedly from her notebook, “but don’t make this a habit.” He just nodded, floating through the class doors as if he were a ghost.

 

{--+--}

 

Keith was pretty much 100% sure that the nurse’s office was cursed. That being, of course, that he walked in to find Lance sitting somewhat sullenly on a waiting chair, and Marge nowhere in sight. Nevertheless, Lance slightly brightened when he saw Keith.

 

“Oh, hey, rainy dude,” he said, offering a lopsided smile and a floppy wave. “Fancy meeting you when it’s not raining.”

 

“Uh, yeah. Likewise.” Keith sat somewhat awkwardly, claiming a chair across from Lance. He closed his eyes, his headache suddenly increasing tenfold.

 

“So, what’re you in for?” Lance asked, as if they were being imprisoned. Keith grunted.

 

“Don’t feel so good,” he muttered, and Lance nodded, though Keith didn’t see it.

 

“I feel you on that.”

 

They lapsed into silence after that, Keith massaging his temples and Lance bouncing his leg. It was about two minutes later until Marge came in, gasping at her patients.

 

“What’re you two doing here! You should’ve gotten someone to radio me or something, don’t just sit and suffer.” She quickly ushered both of them in, and turned to Keith. “So, hun, what’s wrong with you?” Keith snorted slightly at that, but shook his head.

 

“Lance was here first,” he offered, but the other boy was shaking his head.

 

“Uh, dude, you’re like green right now. I’m pretty sure what's got you is more severe than whatever it is that's got me.” Keith shrugged, while Marge looked between the two of them.

 

“Spill it, please,” she said, scooting closer to Keith, and he just sighed.

 

“Well, last night I got caught in the rain, and got drenched--”

 

“What!?” Lance interrupted, voice cracking slightly. He coughed lightly. “Uh, I mean—dude I gave you an umbrella, you’re telling me you got rained on again!?” Keith rubbed at his temples again.

 

“I’m—something came up. I had your umbrella with me, but I couldn’t use it.”

 

“What do you mean, ‘something came up?’” Lance crossed his arms. “It’s--”

 

“Lance, hun, please,” Marge said sternly, shooting him a glare. “Go on, Keith.”

 

“Well, uh. I kinda went to sleep without changing—” Lance let out a garbled sound— “and now I feel terrible.” Marge sighed.

 

“That’ll do it.” She took his temperature, and whistled at the thermometer. “You better take your stuff and call it a day. You got a fever of 101.”

 

“Dude,” Lance exhaled, and Keith just looked sideways at him, wondering why he even cared that much in the first place.

 

“I’ll write a couple things down for you, but make sure you get a lotta rest, okay? Lotsa vitamin C, eat healthy foods, have your parents break out the cold medicine, and don’t come back to class unless your fever drops around 98.6. Ok, hun?” Keith just nodded again, taking her list and wobbling out the door.

 

He could feel Lance’s eyes on his back, and sighed into the empty air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmm! i decided this is going to be 9 chapters long, 9 chapters of perfectly delightful slow burn.  
> with kittens.
> 
> hey if u wanna come yell at me over on twitter @seasaltsun im always up for ppl bothering me ;-3.


	3. and offer you my hand

Keith shut the door quietly behind him, taking care to lock it. He rolled his shoulders, allowing his backpack to fall onto the floor, and made for the bathroom; sure enough, as soon as they heard his footfalls, the yowling began.

 

“I’ve been gone for 5 hours,” he grumbled, and pushed the door open. The first one to come into view was the grey kitten, obviously the calmer of the two; she was currently in the middle of the floor, forepaws tucked beneath her and blinking up at him. He didn’t find the striped one until it literally hurled itself as him; it caught onto his jeans and started to climb, all the while Keith stumbled backwards.

 

Eventually, he caught it as it began to fall, and he cradled it against his chest. The grey cat began to stretch, and padded quietly over to rub against his leg. The striped one began squirming, and Keith loosened his grip just enough for the cat to climb on top of his shoulder, and perch there. He sighed, sneezing, and then coughing.

 

“I sure sacrificed a lot for you little guys,” he muttered, letting the kitten at his chest hop down to pad over to the other, “Look at me. I got a cold, a headache, and a case of being an idiot.” He shook his head. The two kittens looked up at him, the striped one mewing loudly.

 

He walked to his kitchen, opening a container of that same foul-smelling cat food, and fed each of them a half, plopping the slop into two bowls. Keith watched them eat, for a while, before he remembered the list the nurse gave him. Out of everything she wrote down for him, he only had Vitamin C. In the form of lemons.

 

Sneezing and coughing into his sweatshirt, he cut the lemon and squeezed it into a cup of water. It didn’t taste well, but was better than nothing. A series of shivers wracked him, then, and he wobbled to his bed, out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

 

{--+--}

 

A series of knocks jolted him awake, and he groaned at the way the world lurched. The whole entire left side of his face was stuffy; he felt like he had been hit by a truck, but… internally. Someone was ringing his doorbell furiously one moment, knocking just as hard the next moment, causing him to roll over. Any anger he felt was promptly wiped away as he got to his feet, a wave of illness sweeping over him.

 

He wrapped himself up in a blanket and waddled over, pausing to gently sweep both of the cats out of the way of the door. The striped one yowled indignantly, biting at his ankle, but then raced back towards his room. The grey one just padded to the side, watching him open the door.

 

“What,” he said, grumpily, expecting it to be some kind of door-to-door salesman; he didn’t have any friends. But to his utter shock, it was Lance.

 

“Wow,” he retorted, “you sound terrible.” Keith grimaced at him, leaning on the doorframe, keeping a close eye on the grey kitten. She seemed a lot less likely to bolt than her sister, and so Keith pulled the door open a little wider.

 

“I’m sick.”

 

“I can tell.” Lance seemed to shift from one foot to the other as a silence stretched, and Keith couldn’t tell if it was just _Lance_ that made the interaction so fucking awkward, or himself. With an inward sigh, he concluded it was probably… both of them.

 

“So,” Keith said, at the same time Lance started with “I was—”

 

They both stopped, regarding the other, and then Lance smiled crookedly.

 

“I, uh, brought you some of the work from class.” He set his bag down on the ground and pulled out a purple folder, and presented it to Keith. Keith’s eyebrows shot up.

 

“Ah, thanks,” he replied, taking the folder and tucking it under his arm, trying his best not to hack in front of Lance, or even worse, on him.

 

“I also got these for you,” he continued, after a moment of hesitation, and pulled out a grocery bag, shoving it into Keith’s arms. “Y’see—my mom is always worrying about me and my siblings—so I knew you were super sick, and told my mom, and she packed these up right away for you.” He colored slightly. “I’m not saying you don’t—what I mean is, I—”

 

“It’s alright,” Keith cut in, smiling. “Thanks, Lance.” He wasn’t too prideful to accept the help, especially because he knew he needed it. Lance listed off a couple of things in the bag, and Keith peered in at the multitude of medicines and vitamins, grateful. He didn’t know Lance very well, but was glad the other had the sense (or lack of it) to do something like this for him.

 

All of a sudden, the grey kitten poked her head out between Keith’s ankles, chirping up at Lance, and then glancing back up at Keith. He tried to shimmy her back behind him, but Lance gasped softly, bending down, and swooped her up into his arms in one fluid motion.

 

“Is she yours?” He said, as she rubbed her head into his hand, and Keith grinned at them. Lance seemed nothing short of starstruck.

 

“I guess so,” Keith said, sneezing slightly, then dissolving into a coughing fit, covering his face with the blanket and murmuring a quick apology. Then he heard a pattering of paws behind him, and bent down just in time to scoop the striped kitten up, wincing as the bag of medicine tumbled to the ground. Lance was laughing, though.

 

“Man, what a rocket!” He reached for the striped kitten but it meowed indignantly, swatting at his hand, thankfully with claws sheathed. Keith grimaced, bundling the kitten up. “So,”Lance continued, “when’d you get these two?”

  


“Uh, actually… they’re the reason I’m sick,” Keith confessed, sighing as the kitten writhed in the bundle of blanket. “I found them both in a box, on a street corner.” Something seemed to dawn on Lance’s face, then.

 

“So you… you’re sick because you rescued two strays in the rain?” Keith frowned at the way he said it, but couldn’t find any fault with the words themselves.

 

“I… guess.”

 

“I see,” Lance nodded, hand mechanically stroking the grey kitten. “Somehow, that both is super surprising, and… not at all surprising.” Keith opened his mouth, brows furrowed, but Lance glanced past him into the house. “So you, uh, you live alone?” Subconsciously, Keith’s grip tightened around the bundle of kitten.

 

“Sometimes,” he answered, and Lance pursed his lips, as if contemplating whether to pursue that line of conversation.

 

“Well, my mom always says a hot cup of citron tea in the morning and night—that’s in there—followed in the morning by pills and vitamins. And repeat the pills every six hours. That should clear the cold in no time flat!” Lance smiled at him, and Keith returned it. “Well, um—I’ll see you in school, okay?”

 

And then Lance placed the cat back in the house, waved goodbye, and turned down the walkway. Keith watched him go, then retreated back into the apartment, taking a couple pills and vitamins, and then passing out once again.

 

{--+--}

 

He woke to his phone ringing; and groggily, he snatched it up, unlocking the screen to quiet that infernal ring. Keith heard the phone connect, and it was only then did he realize who it was.

 

“Keith,” Shiro’s voice said from the other line, concerned, “please tell me Coran is exaggerating when he said you almost drowned before school.” Keith groaned loudly, rolling onto his side. The grey cat stared at him with calm blue eyes, while the striped glared back with amber. The two were cuddled together, right next to him.

 

“Of course Coran’s over-exaggerating,” Keith huffed, “the man hasn’t said anything that wasn’t a gross exaggeration since the time he was born.” Shiro’s warning of “Keith,” fell on deaf ears. “I got caught in the rain two days ago,” he continued, cutting off with a series of coughs. “And if you can’t tell, I’m sick.”

 

“So Coran at least wasn’t lying about that.”

 

“Did you think I was skipping?” Keith tried hard to keep the accusation out of his voice, but Shiro’s sigh told him how well he succeeded.

 

“I was worried,” was all he said, and Keith immediately felt bad. “You know I don’t like to leave you for periods this long at a time, and you also know I know how good of a student you are.”

 

“I know,” he mumbled, reaching forward to stroke the kittens, and cuddling a little closer to them and his pillow. “Sorry. I’m just…”

 

“It’s alright,” Shiro replied, “I’m just glad to find out you aren’t endangering yourself by, like… skinny dipping in the canal or—”

 

“Shiro—” Keith groaned.

 

“I mean, a bunch of teens do it—”

 

“Shiro, please.”

 

“Fine, fine, but you know how it is. I’m just trying to look after you, even when I’m not there.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Sergeant Jeffords is making a bunch of us simulate 0 G. I think the Garrison really might be a good place for you—and I’m not just saying that. They have…” Shiro continued on, talking about his position at the Garrison, training, and mishaps that have occurred since they last spoke. Keith hummed and asked questions, interested in what Shiro was saying, but unable to process most of it through the thick sickness of his head.

 

“...and there goes my time,” he said with a sigh. “They really should give us more time to talk on the phones.” Keith snorted.

 

“You do your thing, Shiro. I’ll get over this cold quickly enough, and then everything will be back to normal.” Keith finished that sentence with a hard gulp, glancing at the calendar in the corner of his room and knowing Shiro still had 6 more months to go.

 

“Of course,” Shiro said, and Keith could hear the smile. “I’m proud of you for being so mature about this,” he continued, and Keith nodded unable to speak, though Shiro couldn’t see. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

 

“Yeah,” Keith managed to choke out, and then the two of them were saying goodbyes, the line clicking dead.

 

A bought of coughs shook him, and as they subsided, he pretended it was the moisture of sickness he felt on his pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOL its been like a year and a half since i updated this.. sorry guys
> 
> i got back into writing, realized how much I missed it. hopefully i'll start posting more, like i did before
> 
> >>Shiro (brotherly figure) enters left stage


End file.
